The Latest from Iran (18 February): Another Regime Show

2210 GMT: Khabar Online reports on the slogans against Hashemi Rafsanjani in today's pro-government rally in Tehran. They included: 

Master of cunning, Akbar Rafsanjani

Akbar R., Iranian Mubarak

Aghazadeh [Mehdi Hashemi?], your father has gone to the dogs

Be ashamed, quit bargaining

Hashemi, Where is you honour, Faezeh [Raffers daughter], where is your chastity?

2200 GMT: Here are pictures from the government-sponsored 'anti-sedition' rally held in Tehran today. The first image shows protesters getting handed signs. 

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The Latest from Iran (17 February): Cutting Off the Opposition

2145 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Abolfazl Tabarzadi, a close relative of the Iran Democratic Front leader Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, has been freed on bail.

Tabarzadi was detained last December.

2135 GMT: 1 Esfand. Already the posters for Sunday's opposition march, agreed between a coalition of groups this afternoon, are appearing. This one links the rally to Mohammad Mokhtari and Sanee Zhaleh, the two men who died in the 25 Bahman marches on Monday:

2120 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Yesterday I noted the statement of the Assembly of Experts, chaired by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, denouncing the US/Israel-backed "counter-revolution" of Monday's opposition marches.

This morning (0730 GMT) I wrote that regime supporters in Qom had chanted for the death of Rafsanjani.

So how could those two events fit together?

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The Latest from Iran (10 February): One Day Closer

1900 GMT: Another Khamenei Journey to Qom. The Supreme Leader has made another trip --- his fifth since October --- to Qom, visiting several Ayatollahs. He prayed for Ayatolalh Ansari Shirazi, who is ill, and spent an hour with Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.

Most important seems to be Khamenei's discussion with Ayatollah Ostadi about the religious seminaries (Howzeh). Senior clerics have expressed concern that the regime might move against the "independence" of the seminaries.

1845 GMT: Iranian authorities have arrested Fariba Ebtehaj, the office manager of Masoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President in the Khatami Administration.

1700 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Saleh Noghrekar, the head of Mir Hossein Mousavi's Justice Committee, has been arrested in a raid on his home. Journalists Maysam Mohamadi and Omid Mohades were also arrested last night.

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The Latest from Iran (8 February): Dominoes Falling?

2125 GMT: Closing Down a House of Worship. A Sunni prayer-house in Tehran has been sealed and prayer leader Moulavi Obeidollah Mousazadeh arrested.

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A judge has revoked bail for detained journalist Nazanin Khosravani, saying she was likely to flee Iran.

Khosravani's bail was suddenly increased last week, preventing her from leaving prison.

2055 GMT: Interrogating the Mothers. The website of the Mothers of Mourning says that more than 15 members have been summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence.

2020 GMT: Khamenei Quitting? Press TV appears to know something we don't --- its headline today, "Leader: Despotism Coming to End".

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Wikileaks and Iran: Did Mojtaba Khamenei Rig the 2009 Election? (And Where Did the Cable Go?)

A curious story unfolding today: did the son of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, worked with the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Abbas Ali Jafari, to manipulate the ballot?

That appears to be the claim, in at least one document released by WikiLeaks and obtained by the Daily Telegraph of London, by at least one Iranian source to US diplomats within days of the vote. But then another mystery starts....

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The Latest from Iran (6 February): A Notable Absence

2300 GMT: The US Hikers. In the first day of their closed-door trial (see 1115 GMT), Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer pleaded not guilty to espionage and trespassing.

The hearing lasted five hours, but there were no details, as all observers --- including the Swiss Ambassador, who represents US interests in Iran --- were excluded and the hikers' lawyer was barred from giving information. The trial for Fattal and Bauer, who were arrested on the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009, was continued to an unspecified date by Judge Salavati.

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Latest from Iran (5 February): Speaking of Egypt....

1700 GMT: Just Asking. Why weren't former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, Presidential candidate in 1997, at the Supreme Leader's Friday Prayers?

1655 GMT: Reply of the Day. The Expediency Council, which is formally mandated to resolve disputes between branches of the Iranian system, has recently been criticised by President Ahmadinejad for hindering his plans.

The response, according to Green Voice of Freedom: "Mr President, you don't like what we are doing? Change the Constitution".

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The Latest from Iran (31 January): Hatching Freedom

1945 GMT: Execution Watch. Looks like the Iranian authorities are scrambling to justify their sudden execution of Dutch-Iranian national Zahra Bahrami (see separate feature)....

Press TV is claiming it has a video in which Bahrami explains how she concealed cocaine and opium in her house. In the video, Bahrami gives the camera crew a tour of her house, showing them how she concealed drugs in a compartment inside her bed, in cereal boxes and in an electric heater.

The style of the video sounds similar to Press TV's recent "documentary" in which Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose death sentence for adultery has also been condemned internationally, was released from prison to make a "confession" in her home.

The Tehran Prosecutor's Office now claims that, during a search of Bahrami's house, 450 grams of cocaine and 420 grams of opium were uncovered. Previously, Iranian officials said Bahrami was holding a kilogramme of cocaine.

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The Latest from Iran (28 January): The President Protects His Man

1020 GMT: Claim of Day. The hard-line Raja News writes that Mehdi Karroubi went to Behesht-e Zahra cemetery today to honor post-election victims but fled after families protested.

1015 GMT: Sedition Watch. Ayatollah Alamolhoda, the Friday Prayer leader in Mashhad, has proclaimed that some fitna (sedition) leaders and activists are trying to "desecrate" the Supreme Leader.

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The Latest from Iran (27 January): No Money for the Babies

2145 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. We started with babies this morning, we'll close with very adult behaviour. Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has attacked former President Hashemi Rafsanjani once again, saying religious seditionists and silent elites must be dealt with. Moslehi declared that he had documents of the 2009 sedition to back up his allegations.

2140 GMT: Parliament v. President. Reformist MP Mostafa Kavakebian has invited President Ahmadinejad to a public discussion about his letter to MPs warning that Parliament, the judiciary, and the Expediency Council were acting wrongly to oppose his plans on the budget and the Central Bank.

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